• H2020
• Excellent Science
• Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions

Researchers are in heavy competition for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions funding as the European Commission announces the first statistics of its €240.5m Individual Fellowship (IF) call.

The EU institution announced that it had received 7,472 proposals to its 2014 IF call. European Fellowships comprised 6,425 proposals, or 86% of the total, whilst Global Fellowships numbered 1,047 proposals, or 14% of the total. A total budget of €211.5m is allocated to European Fellowships, whilst €29m is allocated to Global Fellowships. Total requested funding far exceeds the budget available.

The call ran from March-September 2014 and, according to the Commission, enables experienced researchers to increase their “creative and innovative potential” through advanced training, international and intersectoral mobility. The scheme is targeted towards scientists wishing to “diversify their individual competence in terms of skill acquisition at multi or interdisciplinary level”.

Applicants were recently informed if they were successful in winning funding and it is expected that the first grant agreements will be signed next month. The flash call results can be read in detail here.